Out-going Congressman Jim Nussle — the Republican nominee for governor — is campaigning today Quad Cities businessman Mike Whalen, the Republican who hopes to win Nussle’s seat in Congress. Their first stop was at a rally in Waterloo where Nussle told Whalen to ignore those who point to the Democrat voter registration edge in the district.
“It may be easy for some of those spin-doctors in Washington, D.C. — I know that a few of you have run into along the way — saying ‘You know what: This district, it’s going to go Democratic. We just know it. We can count it in the Democrats’ column already,'” Nussle told the crowd. “The interesting thing about it is for those of you who don’t remember, that’s what they said to me.”
Whalen says he’ll offer voters a much different philosophy from that of his general Democrat opponent, Bruce Braley of Waterloo. “He’s for bigger government. He’s for more regulations. He’s for the government solving problems instead of families and businesses and individuals,” Whalen says. “I look forward to that contrast.”
Bill Dix and Brian Kennedy, the two Republicans who challenged Whalen for the Republican nomination in the first district, attended the Waterloo rally, too, and offered Whalen their support through the fall. Nussle and Whalen made stops in Dubuque and Davenport as well.